Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: More Income and More Expenses

The fact that you have more expenses, along with more income, than your ex-husband is most likely not a reason to deviate from the child support guidelines. The courts deviate from the guidelines rarely, and the fact that you own your home and pay mortgage and car payments, and household expenses, would not be a likely reason for a deviation. However, it may be that your ex-husband's income, for child support purposes, is not as much less than yours as you believe. If he is living rent-free in his parents home, the free housing can be counted as gift income. If he doesn't contribute to the utilities, grocery costs, etc., those too can be counted as gift income. review the guidelines again, looking at the definition of "actual income," and you may find some help there.

Re: More Income and More Expenses

Question: is there a court order for support in place? If so, then you can only modify that amount if you can show a material change in circumstances (i.e. significant change in incomes is one example).

If there is no court order he could petition the court to run the guidelines and request an order of support for that amount. Although you would get a credit under the guidelines for the daycare expense, you would still be required to pay some child support. Under the facts you have given you would most likely not be qualified for a deviation from the support.

If this isn't clear, give my office a call and I will explain.